Saturday, 31 December 2016

My Contemporary Quilt 2016 Journal quilts ( 8 x 10 inches with requisite small piece of purple, green and orange) are a mixed bag to say the least!! The earlier hand stitched collages inspired by my surroundings and experiments for larger projects are the best .The later ones, mainly machine stitched samples from workshops/ art classes were rushed and my heart wasn't really in them.

The main factor ( apart from the 2 months around Ian's op when life went on hold) is using postcard size 4 x 6 inch pieces for my experimental ' fabric sketches' rather than the JQ format. It started with a challenge on the facebook group ' sketchbooks and experiments for textiles' and then I found they were the perfect size for stitching on the train !

I've made 38 of them so far and am using them to explore ideas for new work.

Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Drawing Tuesday this week was in the glass gallery or architecture section of the V&A . I love the glass gallery - I remember gasping out loud the first time I saw the amazing glass staircase. The problem was deciding what to draw among all the treasures there as I was already later arriving than I'd hoped. So I settled on a case of Islamic glass ( it's becoming a bit of a series, having drawn examples at the British Museum)

I loved the watery nature of the shadows but as shadows do, they kept disappearing and moving !

It was the variations in colour that attracted me in the first place but I got absorbed in drawing with 4B pencil and using eraser ( current favourite is a Tonbow mono zero, it's like drawing with light) . I daren't risk adding any colour having learnt from bitter experience that you can't rub it out so I did a very quick colouring-in of my preliminary sketch with a watersoluble pencil (Caran D'ache Supracolour II Blue 260)

One of the sessions in Advanced Painting course was on using Photoshop or similar to review possibilities for making changes to your artwork in progress, something I do frequently for source material, less so for my own work. So at home I did some playing around with Photoshop, seeing what my pencil drawing might have looked like if I'd been brave enough ( and had more time) . I sampled the blue from my drawing and then used it in combination with different 'sketch' filters.

Graphic Pen

'Halftone'

The same filter ( 'chalk and charcoal' )applied to the photo ( below) rather than the drawing ( above) is far less interesting and dynamic as there isn't the variety of marks

Monday, 19 December 2016

Before my last Advanced Painting class on Friday , I went to the prints exhibition room 90 at the British Museum to see 'Touch:Works on paper' by Maggi Hambling. But I got distracted by the selection of works in the display area to the right:

'Modern Design and Graphics: Objects and Prints from Post-War Europe'

A small display of objects and prints, highlighting the relationship between three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional objects.

My favourite was by Swedish artist Philip von Schantz , a watercolour 'Towards Arholma' where the curved vessels merge with the water and sky. Having actual vessels displayed alongside was inspired . I found other examples of his work online like the one below

Other pairings was this linocut of sails by Jurleif Uthaug with wooden vessels ( above) and the lithograph of a woman hanging out washing by Jurgen von Konow with an engraved glass vase (below)

I was a bit short of time so didn't note down the makers of the print and woven baskets above or the glass vessels displayed with the Morandi etchings ( rather a contrast to the dusty bottles they were drawn from!!)

The drawings that Maggi Hambling made of close family and friends on their deathbeds (or in her coffin in the case of her mother) are very moving but it is her studies of waves that I find compelling in capturing their force and energy.

Friday, 16 December 2016

Prompted by an excellent post by Sheila on adult colouring books and a discovery among my books while unpacking , I'm sharing what you could say is my first attempt at an 'altered book'.

The discovery was this copy of 'Memoirs of a London Doll' still with my mum's notes attached from when she gave talks on toymaking ( she did City and Guilds in this as well as embroidery, I still have some of her innovative examples) . Although published in 1840, this was an ex library copy published in 1926 and withdrawn from use at Darwen library in 1943 ( which is probably when my mum acquired it )

As a child , besides playing at shops, I used to have a pretend library of my own books where I'd write in the date at the front when it was due back just like the one which I was introduced to as soon as I could read ( so sad to see it's under threat of closure)

But probably before I could write, I'd coloured in some of the plates with wax crayons, and it's interesting to see the progression in skill. I'm guessing that I'd got bored and finished the colouring books I'd been provided with and wanted something more challenging! The quality of the paper was much better too. 'Magic' colouring books that you wet to reveal the colours were always deeply disappointing.

This first one I was obviously trying out all the different colours in the crayon pack with mixed success - I've never been very good at( or motivated) to stay within the lines. Note the early attempts at colour mixing at the side!
The second plate I attempted (at the top of this post ) is much neater with a more restricted palette ( and a squiggle of green felt tip - rejected for further use)
By the 3rd plate (below) I'd gone for a lighter touch with the crayons,

At that point I'd had enough of colouring in others works and did my own artwork at the back of the book - a patterned tent? with a nice bit of frottage rubbing crayon over the tapes of the binding!

I don't remember being told off for colouring in this book ( I probably thought it needed improving as my other books had colour pictures in !) but I remember art materials and paper always being available.
The main reason I'm not interested in adult colouring books ( besides liking to draw my own designs) is that I don't like being constrained by the lines. At school in art classes I used to feel I wasn't painting 'properly' as my style even then was very scribbly and loose, enjoying colour mixing and making marks when everyone else was patiently and neatly going up to the lines with the colours provided. Luckily good teachers encouraged me and I didn't succumb to peer pressure.

Thursday, 15 December 2016

Drawing Tuesday this week was at Richmond Museum - I chose to draw the keys for the gates of Richmond Park, firstly a quick outline of the shapes and how they related to each other and then in more detail in 4B pencil. Quite a challenge particularly following the labyrinthine intricacies of the teeth or bittings themselves. Some were double ended which made me wonder how you carry them?

Afterwards we had an excellent lunch at the 'Tide Tables' underneath Richmond Bridge and then I used the opportunity of being in the area to revisit Kew with my 'Life Pass'

It's over a year since I've been back, some things like the parakeets flying noisily overhead and the Pagoda tree are still the same

But there had been major changes to the Broadwalk and installation of ' The Hive' and my colleagues were finally installed in the Jodrell after literally decades of various proposals for moving the lab.

It was lovely to see them and catch up and I had a guided tour of their new facilities - very strange to see familiar items of equipment ( even my still-labelled bench trolley) in a different location. I'm invited back in the Spring.
What felt most odd however was catching a 65 bus to South Ealing for the Piccadilly Line , passing the bus stop very close to my old home in Brentford but not getting off.

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

We had a different tutor for Advanced Painting last week : Rod Judkins who has written a couple of books on creativity. It was interesting to have a different perspective, giving an overview of the work of Mark Tansey and how he generates ideas through his 'color wheel '.

The canvases are huge and monochromatic ( partly to unify as the starting material is collage of all different colours ) . If you look at them closely ( as were able to do when projected on screen) you can see all kinds of witty detail, puns and references to the art world ( eg art speak text in 'building the Grand Canyon)

Picasso and Braque

Valley of Doubt

Building the Grand Canyon

Doubting Thomas

Many people were continuing with their 'transcription' of Bachus and Ariadne, starting new work or continuing with paintings they already had started. The muse however was missing for me and I had a few false starts until the last half hour when in desperation I pulled out a scumbled failed painting from the drawer , similar to the surface used for oil transfer technique. I did something based on photos of Minnis Bay , very loose with splatters and use of credit card scraping and in the end decided it wasn't that bad!

Maybe I was just painted out having had my first session the day before using the kitchen as a painting studio ( Ian's complaints about me taking over the house may have some justification... )

I was working again the mussels: photos printed on black t-shirt transfer paper and applied to fabric then quilted before painting. The one based on the outside of the mussel went from bad to terrible , dark and over-worked, but the one of the inside with its circle of sand went better

Yesterday I added more stitch with my Pfaff Grandquilter which copes with all the layers of paint admirably and am excited by the possibilities of scaling up.
Only 2 more classes to go and I'm deciding what to do - painting time is actually only a couple of hours taking into account set up and cleaning up and I always take too much stuff and waste time trying to decide between option. This course has generated too many ideas! More shells or Minnis Bay?